A mobile machine, such as a compact, small, midsize, or large wheel loader may be used to perform one or more of a variety of tasks on a worksite. For example, a midsize wheel loader (an MWL) may be used to pick up material from one location on the worksite, and to load the material onto another machine at another location on the worksite. Specifically, the MWL may have a bucket installed on its front end, and the MWL may be used to pick up dirt, stones, or construction debris with the bucket, and to load the materials into the dump bed of a dump truck. The MWL may also be used to carry material between locations on the worksite. In particular, the MWL may carry construction materials with a forklift attachment that is installed on its front end.
In general, the MWL has an internal combustion engine that provides power to the machine. The engine burns diesel fuel that is stored in fuel tank prior to combustion. The fuel tank is shaped to direct the fuel stored therein towards an open end of a draw tube that is located in the fuel tank. The draw tube draws the fuel out of the fuel tank and delivers the fuel to a fuel line that is connected to the engine. Usually, the open end of the draw tube is located at a lowermost portion of the fuel tank.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0000921 to Hawks discloses a baffle arrangement that is used in the fuel tank. In particular, the baffle arrangement is used to guide fuel stored in the tank towards the open end of the draw tube.
The baffle arrangements set forth in the Hawks publication suffer from numerous disadvantages, however. For example, specialized tooling must be used to produce the baffles that are formed from spiral walls. This is because each of the walls has radii that vary along the length of the wall. Thus, the walls are neither simple nor inexpensive to manufacture. Also, with respect to the baffles than include walls formed of straight wall segments, the walls include an excessive number of bends. Further, the passages formed between the walls, into which the fuel flows, are narrow and may not permit a sufficient volume of fuel to be directed towards the draw tube. Thus, this baffle arrangement may not provide a sufficient amount of fuel to the engine to prevent it from stalling.
The disclosed fuel tank assembly is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.